Up In Flames
by xfirefly9x
Summary: Scully/Mulder. Apoca!fic. Everything the fire touched was burnt to ash.


**Up In Flames**

Prompt: #000 The X Files. Scully/Mulder. As bleak as you can…

Notes: Written for intl princess for the apocalyptothon.

_"It's about time that this world goes up in flames." 'Starsign', Apoptygma Berzerk_

Spirals of flame lifted up into the air, burning up all the breathable oxygen and leaving destruction in their wake. Acrid black smoke clung to the building tops above, filling the lungs of the people unlucky enough to be in close proximity, and killing them within seconds.

Above the fire, the sky was a blanket of charcoaled debris, bleeding into the horizon like red colour dye through water. Bits and pieces of debris were hurtling through the air, and a sharp wind carried both them and the flames off in different directions, spreading the damage.

Everything the fire touched was burnt to ash.

From the underground bomb shelter that Scully and Mulder had managed to find, they witnessed the chaos onscreen. The reporter and camera crew were long dead, their already rotting corpses lying in puddles of oily black goop that had a strong resemblance to clotted blood. It was impossible to identify which body belonged to which person.

Despite all that, the camera kept rolling along, pictures flickering onscreen to whoever might still be alive to see them.

The toxins in the air were clearly strong enough to tear the flesh right off the dead and Scully had informed her partner earlier that even with full body suits and oxygen masks, it would be nearly impossible to stay alive out there.

As it was, they were already finding it hard to breathe, and the man who had followed them to the apparently 'safe' shelter had died just minutes earlier from inhaling too much smoke. The room was sweltering and Scully had theorised that within the next day or two, the toxins outside would be powerful enough to rip the metal casing to shreds, and if, as she expected, their shelter didn't stand a chance, neither did they.

Not a chance in hell.

It was impossible to say whether anyone at all would survive. Judging by the images of the fire as it engulfed everything in sight, and the shattered screams of the dying, the chances were low.

Just making it through the fires would be difficult, as suggested by the already high number of victims. If anyone was left after that, they would have an extremely low chance of getting through even one more day with no oxygen left (which many scientists had predicted would burn up in the fires).

There would be nowhere to run to, nowhere to escape to. The fires had spread over the entire world.

For now, all the two agents could do was watch and hope that something would come up which might stop the destruction before everything was gone.

Flicking absentmindedly at a bit of rubble that had managed to find its way in behind them as they had run for the shelter, Scully squeezed her eyes shut and wracked her brains for a solution. She had already figured out that the amount of chemicals needed to counteract the toxins in the air would be phenomenally large. And it would be a nearly impossible task to even attempt anyway, with a .999 in a million chance of success.

There was no way to get any of the required chemicals without leaving the shelter anyway, and that would be suicide. Neither of them wanted to die. If one of them went down, then so would the other.

Mulder peered over his partner's shoulder, noticing her expression. "What is it?" he asked curiously, patting her on the back.

"They did something to it, Mulder," Scully told him, matter-of-factly. "They did something to start this. I just know it." She glanced back at the TV screen in the corner and ran her tongue over her bottom lip.

For all her efforts, all she received was a blank look. "Who?" Mulder asked.

Scully sighed. "_Them,_ Mulder. The aliens." Her voice was tinged with daggers and she saw her partner shrink back visibly into the corner. "See?" she continued. "I admit it. You were right. Aliens exist and they did something to make _this_ happen."

She gestured around them and finally, it hit her.

They were going to die.

She and Mulder were going to die.

There was nothing that anyone could do to stop it.

They were going to…die.

Die as in death.

And aliens…aliens were real.

She played with the words in her mind until they blurred into each other and lost all meaning. Her fear must have shown on her face though, because she suddenly felt arms around her, strong and comforting. Mulder.

He was going to die.

They were both going to die.

Scully swallowed back the tears and fell into his embrace. "We're going to die, Mulder," she finally said. She looked up into his eyes to find that they too were filled with unshed tears.

Mulder nodded slowly. "I suspected as much," he agreed solemnly, pulling her closer. "There are some things that even we can't fix." He said that last part with a joking tone, but the expression on his face betrayed his real feelings on the matter.

Falling into silence, they held onto each other for what would be the last time. They had no choice in the matter of whether or not they would live or die, but they did have a choice as to how. They had that power.

They could die happy, lying in each other's arms.

Scully shifted slightly and murmured into Mulder's chest. "What do you think happened to Skinner and the Lone Gunmen? Do you think they got to someplace safe?" She found the tears start to prick at her eyes some more and blinked a few times to clear them away.

Beside her, Mulder shrugged. "I don't know. I hope so." He reached up and ran a hand through her hair, gently caressing it. "If they didn't…well, at least it would have been quick," he added so quietly that she wondered for a moment if she'd just imagined him saying it.

Maybe she had.

None of that mattered now, though. Within the next day or two – or maybe even within the hour – the inevitable would happen. There was no stopping it. The toxins would eat their way through their shelter and then eviscerate them. That would be the end. That would be how they would die.

All they could do was lie there and hope that there was an afterlife and that they could make it there. Snuggling closer to Mulder, Scully decided that she was finally done. No more worrying. No more theorising on ways to prevent the inevitable. The world was going up in flames around them and nothing mattered now other than being together.

Because this was the end.


End file.
